Girls und Panzer, at best, first appears as if it were your standard run-of-the-mill 'moe' sort of anime. And the theme does sort of continue, and then you're hit in the face by the occurrence of an outrageously accurate depiction of a tank.
Which brings me to the main focus of this review. I watched Girls und Panzer not for the story, but for the tanks. It's not called Girls und PANZER for nothing.
Standard anime review rules applied, the story, characters and overall enjoyment range from 6 to 7. I'll elaborate on these below. Art and sound score a very respectable 9.
The story isn't particularly engaging. For spoiler reasons, no details will be given. However, it is a relatively predictable story outside of the tank battles, with a transfer-student from a top school at tankery to one that hasn't had a program in years, and so forth. Excluding the tank battles, this would be a 6 at best. However, the story also includes tank battles. I will freely admit that some of the latter tank battles (no names) did indeed give me a sense of suspense and anticipation, but there was a constant lingering gut feeling that I knew Ooarai would win. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Ooarai was going to win, every time, and although there are some notable exceptions where the way through which they won was incredibly tense, the fact that I knew they would win places the story at a mid-range 7.
Most characters were a bit uninspiring, with the exception of Yukari (bless this tank nerd). There was the traditional superiority complex present, the discrepancy in family heritage and techniques, the breaking of honour for friendship and so forth, present through many character interactions. Some character interactions did indeed fill me with a sense of humour and light-hearted joy (Nonna and Katyusha being a wonderful example). But the characters are rather predictable most of the time, and so character-wise Girls und Panzer scores a mediocre 6. Not terrible, and some tropes aren't horribly overdone while others are simply blown up (no tank puns) to incredible levels, but not exceptionally special.
Enough of being a depressing person. It's time to move on to the fun stuff.
Art and sound have to be reviewed together. Here is the true glory of Girls und Panzer, and why Actas has done such a fantastic job of making Girls und Panzer special. As can be interpreted from the title, tanks play an important role in the show, and the art and sound certainly do not disappoint. Few things give a history buff like myself a euphoric buzz like a tank moving and hearing the pure mechanical noises that come with it. Girls und Panzer got my heart racing the moment I saw the first tank, and as the list of tanks rolled on, not only did I like the show more and more for including rarer and more invaluable, museum-worthy tanks that have no right being on a modern battlefield or rammed into each other, but I also stopped being able to refrain from squealing at each shell bounce, each mechanical grinding sound, each metallic clank and each hydraulic whirr. Art does not let me down at this point either. Tank suspension mechanics, turret traverse, gun elevation and locking, internal tank view modeling and the natural flow of the tracks simply added to the excitement I felt while watching each tank battle, and at this point I will concede that I had to rewatch certain parts of the episodes simply because I couldn't wait to skip to the tank battles. They are that enjoyable, and the only issue I could possibly find would be the sounds of the guns and the explosions - sometimes, they sound too high-end and lack a certain low-end focus that would be more expected of a tank's gun or an explosion; that is, the sound sometimes feels too crisp and nasal. Another nitpick would be the lighting - sometimes light doesn't reflect off of certain parts of the tanks, as if they were all painted in matte paint, which does subtract slightly from the pure realism. But these are small issues amongst a magnificent depiction of a juicily wide selection of World War II armoured fighting vehicles. Solid 9s for both the art and the sounds.
Putting aside my history buff self for a moment, enjoyment. It would be a 8 or even a 9 if I were to analyse it from my historical enjoyment perspective, but as I wish to be as honest in these reviews that I post, as well as recognising that not many people have the same level of fanaticism about armour or wartime technology as myself, I'll try to analyse enjoyment based on a more neutral perspective, and for this reason enjoyment sits at a solid 7. The excitement of the tank realism and the battles themselves is mitigated by the fact that the outcomes are predictable (though the course of the battles usually aren't) and that the parts of the show where tanks aren't featured is either quite normal, in a sense, or uninspiring. It does sometimes give you the desire to skip a few seconds just to get closer to the tank battles and avoid the dialogue.
Overall, what do I think? A solid 8 is in order. The problems with a relatively basic storyline, predictable outcomes and uninspiring characters and character dialogue is completely, if not increasingly, balanced out by the sheer delicacy of the sound and art used to depict the tanks as well as some of the architecture and scenery. Although there are some problems with the depictions of the tanks, and there are admittedly some quite humorous sides of character relationships and characters themselves, the good points more than balance out the bad points. This show is definitely worth your time, and for a more immersive and balanced understanding of the backstory of this show's universe, also remember to watch the Girls und Panzer OVA movie, which includes a battle that was omitted from the original anime for reasons.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading back to World of Tanks.
